


toes brown with foreign sands

by ried (riiiied)



Category: Horizon: Zero Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-08
Updated: 2020-04-08
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:54:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23538694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/riiiied/pseuds/ried
Summary: A restful night is hard to catch when you are in a foreign land, awaiting a fateful battle.
Relationships: Aloy & Varl (Horizon: Zero Dawn)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 25
Collections: Robot Rainbow 2020





	toes brown with foreign sands

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Asymptotical](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asymptotical/gifts).



Being out of the Sacred Lands was less than thrilling for Varl, to say the least.

On a shallow level, he really did not like the weather.

The Carja, sun worshippers as they are, had chosen their residence in the middle of a sweltering desert, on a dusty rock. Sure, they had summers in the Sacred Lands too, but one would never be too far from a tree that could provide shelter. Unlike the vast open air of large swathes of the Carja land, the dryness of the air only serving to exacerbate the heat. And yet, with the sun now down, gone also was every trace of that heat, replaced by bone-chilling cold winds.

But, if only his issues ended at the weather.

For his whole life, he had never set foot outside the Sacred Lands, nor had he planned to - after all, why would he? All-Mother had provided everything they would ever need within the lands, and untold dangers lie beyond the borders. Not to mention those from other tribes who do not believe in All-Mother’s blessings, opting to worship other ‘powers’.

He was doing this for his people. To protect his people and his land. With their tribe weakened as it is, they needed all of the remaining Braves to be prepared for anything.

Brave. It was a title he received years before, representing what he needed to be the most right now. And yet, as he repeated the word to himself, the meaning started to blur, as if it was something that didn’t apply to himself anymore, shivering out here in the open air of a foreign land.

“Can’t sleep?”

A familiar voice called to him, and he turned around. “A… Aloy.” He had to remind himself to call her with that name - his mind was filled with as many thoughts as it was, but he should still remember the Anointed’s wish.

(She’d complain if she knew he thought of her with that title, but how could he not, when it was All-Mother’s will?)

“I was about to.” The words left his mouth together with white vapors, reminding him of the chilling night air. “What about you?”

“On the way to finish for the night too,” Aloy said, walking up to his side. She had been going around, checking in on everyone in preparation for tomorrow, and even with the strain showing around her eyes, her steps were still sharp. This was far from the first time she’d been outside the Sacred Lands, Varl was suddenly reminded. And before her, there were other Seekers too, wandering out to foreign lands beyond the embrace of All-Mother’s blessings. If they can, surely there was a way for him to be here without unease?

“How do you… manage it?”

“Manage what?”

“Being out there, alone, where everything is different from what you’ve always known.” He was no sheltered child, no stranger to danger, but even after living through the raids, walking out into a land he never previously thought of setting foot in brought a different kind of unease. And he wasn’t even alone.

“Well… I was always on the outside from birth. I have plenty of experience exploring while being the ‘foreigner’.”

Varl tried to open his mouth, but couldn’t think of something to say. He thought back to Aloy emerging from within All-Mother, Aloy as she first stepped out of the Sacred Lands, Aloy as she came in riding on a machine, rumours of a motherless baby when he was a child himself. For a moment, he felt almost silly, thinking it would be anywhere close to easy to emulate someone who had gone through all that.

“You really are something, aren’t you. No wonder you’re The -”

“Okay, if you’re going to say what I think you’re going to say, I’m going to stop you there. You remember what we talked about this afternoon, right?”

Somehow, Varl let out a small laugh at that, for once feeling the tension leave his body, before he caught himself. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay. I prefer it when you’re not taking that whole business too seriously, anyway.”

He wanted to protest - after all, how could he not take the Goddess’ will seriously? - but on the other hand, it was also thanks to the ease with which Aloy seemed to be carrying herself that he forgot some of his unease, and with that, fatigue started setting in his body.

“We should both rest in preparation for tomorrow.”


End file.
